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Quality course yesterday - fun to ride but also challenging on the skills to keep speed through the turns.
Had a solid race to round things off, rolled in 22nd. Needed some magic in the legs to bridge up to the two lads ahead of me but didn't have it. Rode the boards with aplomb until I realised it was actually costing me time - the immediate turn into the slope killed the momentum gain.
I'll be at Delamere monstercross all being well, so see you there @BenjiM - it was an exceptional event last year, really good course. Think I need to go ride my bike for longer than 50 minutes - 3hrs feels like an ultra-endurance event after the cross season.
Who'd have thought a park in Salford would continually deliver such a good course!
Rode a bit meh but hardly surprising as cx bike hasn't moved since Ulverston. Should really have checked it over as the front brake lunched the pads and spring 2 minutes before the start..... Luckily no need for the brake in the race (just annoying crunching and clicking all the way round).
G_L was quicker riding the boards on the first lap (I was right behind) and proceeded to gradually pull away. Cheers for the support Benji. Think you got photos of all the stw vets 🙂
Alison's legs finally woke up for a podium so a decent end to the season.
Was a cracking event, bar the dubious 'self gridding' b@llock$ that suddenly appeared.
Tommy smashed it in the end,despite worrying about the white rose invaders, so its onto the U10 for him next.
I could not get going, just felt rubbish and dragged my carcass to 27th, still it improved on my remaining worst result by some margin, so I'll get a minor points boost.
Monster Cross pairs for me this time round.
Well thats my season done. Finished off with Western League yesterday. Cracking course with some steep banking and lots of mud. Really enjoyed it and had a bit of close racing at the start and then another little battle towards the end that was a bit of sharp elbows fun with a guy I rember racing with in mtb a couple of years ago. Fitness was lacking after a month of not really training and I made a bunch of mistakes and had a couple of mechanicals so had a bad result for me but didnt spoil the enjoyment. On the plus side I've been trying to run once a week and it made a noticable differnece to the off the bike stuff compared to the last race with a bit of running so I'm going to make sure I keep that up all year. Also had a bit of fun doing some in-race skils practise and experimenting with line choice round corners in the middle of the race when I'd lost the people I was with in the mid-section of the race.
Seasons over for North Wales league... last race had a disco tunnel with banging tunes, smoke machines and beer every lap.... or if you were serious you could swap that for a couple of hurdles😉 great end to a fun season and my last race in the v40s... v50s next year😥
Good work all.
@whytetrash the North Wales finish sounds like a good mix. Beer hand ups always good.
Any of you got a PX XLA? Rival 1 hydraulic version has come up in REM sale for £600 today, trying to decide if I need one because hydraulic drop bar bike prices are very much on the up.
Wish I knew just how good my lower back is these days, medium is 555mm and large is 573mm stack, while my Cube is a very generous 610mm!
Dare we start a Cross 20/21 thread or is that just tempting fate?
Just seen that National Trophy at Westmorland is open for entries on BC. If it happens I'll be marshalling again.
I really think there should be a thread, yes. 😀 My local series' are not happening so I'm trying hard to keep in touch with the odd ad-hoc event. I don't do facebook, so this is tricky. I think it would be great to hear how some of the c19 mitigations are working e.g. time trials, or small fields etc.
I raced in one of the summer cross rounds at Dalton Barracks recently, using the TT format. Worked really well actually - quite sage as there’s minimal time spent near other riders. Also worked well for racing as cross always feels like a spread out field.
Would have liked another couple of laps (race was 30 mins), but nothing else I could fault. No chips, mayo, and socialising is going to take some getting used to...
Next round is on Thursday, doing this on the MTB again.
@richardk
One of my mates did the "wessexish" 15-man race at the school in Winchester
He was pretty happy with the day (apart from his result !)
I've entered the National Trophy round at Westmorland, whether I make the cut is another matter. National Rank of 327 so I may get in, if not I'll be marshalling! 🙂
Whats the gut feeling for field sizes at National trophy events this year? Do you think numbers will be limited for safety reasons? I would imagine a lot of people will trying to get in.
I think all races of whatever size will have entry caps, also spread out start lines I guess.
BC covid rules state one bike, no pits, no assistance which will make some of the mud fests interesting for those used to half-lap changes!!
Not sure what is happninging with my lcoal league though I know there is still the ambition to hold a few races.. I best get a bit of training done as I've not had time to ride my bike at all this summer. I've been managing to run quite a lot though so if it ends up being a case of running a broken bike round a muddy field for an hour I'll do OK 🙂